Nadene Goldfoot
Abram/ Abraham was an Ivri (Hebrew) of the 2nd millennium BCE or 1948 BCE according to the Tanach who came from the East with his people and father, Terah, and settled in Ur of the Chaldees which is in today's Iraq. Ur was an ancient Babylonian city.
When Abraham was born, the era of desolation (the first 2,000 years from Creation) had come to an end and the era of Torah had begun when Moses would come to write down the history of his people. It had been desolate because Adam had fallen, Abel had been murdered, idolatry had been introduced to the world, 10 generations had been washed away by the flood, and 10 generations from Noah had failed.
In Hebrew
Ivri is spelled going from right to left, ayin, bet/vet, raysh which means
the other side. He came from the other side of the Euphrates River.
Looking at this figuratively, it means that he was on the other side of a moral and spiritual divide from the rest of the world. Possibly not much was known geographically in Abraham's day. He had heard of the Euphrates River from his father, but not the Tigris that ran so close and parallel to it? Did they come as far east as the Caspian Sea? Evidently Terah never mentioned that so they must not have been that far east. His people descended from
Eber, grandson of
Shem (Gen. 10:24).
I found Eber to be the great grandson of Shem by following the given genealogy. This meant one who came from the other side of the
Euphrates River. Eber's descendants formed a group of Semitic peoples and tribes including the Israelites, called the Hebrews. The Euphrates is the western of the 2 rivers. The eastern one is the Tigris
. They enclose Mesopotamia, the Land of the Two Rivers. The Euphrates was to be the boundary of the Israelites. Many Jewish communities lay along the Euphrates in talmudic times and after.
1 Shem
. 2 Elam
. 2 Asshur
. 2 Arpachshad b: in 2 years after flood
..... 3 Shelah
.........
4 Eber
............. 5 Peleg
................. 6 Reu
. 2 Lud
. 2 Aram
..... 3 Milkah
......... +Levi
......... 4 [2] Jochebed
............. +[1] Amram
............. 5 [3] Aaron d: in Mt. Hor, border of Edom
................. +[4] Elisheba
................. 6 Nadab
................. 6 Abihu
................. 6 Eleazar
..................... +Daughter of Putiel
................. 6 Ithamar
............. 5 [
5] Moses b: in Egypt
................. +[6] Zipporah
................. 6 Gershom
................. 6 Elieaer
............. 5 [7] Mirium
......... 4 Gershon
............. 5 Livni Ladan
............. 5 Shimei
......... 4 Kohath
............. 5 [1] Amram
................. +[2] Jochebed
................. 6 [3]
Aaron d: in Mt. Hor, border of Edom
..................... +[4] Elisheba
................. 6 [5]
Moses b: in Egypt
..................... +[6] Zipporah
................. 6 [7] Mirium
............. 5 Izhar
................. 6 Korah
................. 6 Nepheg
................. 6 Zichri
............. 5 Hebron
............. 5 Uzziel
................. 6 Mishael
................. 6 Elzaphan
................. 6 Sithri
......... 4 Merari
............. 5 Mahli
............. 5 Mushi
..... 3 Uz
..... 3 Hul
..... 3 Gether
..... 3 Mash
Terah, his father, was an idol-maker in Ur. Abraham became the father by his concubine, Hagar, an Egyptian princess who was his wife's handmaid, of Ishmael, and the father of Isaac by his wife, Sarai/Sarah. Ishmael became the father of the Arab nation and Isaac became the father of the Jewish nation. Both carried the genetic haplotype of their father, J1.
Ivrim (plural ) was sometimes used interchangeably with
Israelites (Exod. 9:1) . Jacob, Isaac's son, had 12 sons that became 12 tribes. Jacob's name was changed by G-d later on to be
Israel. His descendants became the Israelites. They spoke Hebrew.
HABIRU and Hebrews must be the same word, just different spellings.
Habiru was the word used for mercenaries or slaves. Remember, they were slaves for 400 years in Egypt. The word
Habiru was found in the Tel el-Amarna tablets and in other documents of the 15th to 14th centuries BCE. Many scholars are of the opinion that the word
Habiru is identical with Ivri (i)m (Hebrews), and some think that the reference in the threat of the
Habiru to the Canaanite cities alludes to one of the stages in the Israelite conquest of Canaan that took place with Joshua later on in about 1,500 BCE. .
Terah had 3 sons; Abraham, Haran and Nahor. Abraham took his father and family and moved out of this idol-worshipping city to live among the
Canaanite and
Philistine people. Canaan was the name for Syria in the 15th to 13th centuries BCE. It applied to the coast of the land Jews referred to as Eretz Yisrael. The land was divided in Abraham's day into small city-states. The northern part of
Eretz Yisrael was called
Aram (Syria).
First Abraham went to
Haran, his brother, who lived in
Canaan. Where Haran lived became a town called Haran. Haran was the father of Lot. Haran died in
Ur Kasdim when his father, Terah, was still alive. Haran had a daughter, Milcah who married her father's other brother, Nahor. Haran was a trading town of NW Mesopotamia, and a center of a moon cult. Assyrian inscription from this time mention a Habiru (Hebrew?) settlement in the vicinity which some scholars link with Terah's home there. Terah died in Haran at the age of 205. .
Abraham left Haran at age 75 with his wife Sarah and Lot, his nephew. He visited Egypt because of famine in the land and returned to live in
Hebron, a city to become a part of Israel. He was involved with fighting to help his nephew,
Lot, from the attacks by
Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, Amraphel who was king of Shinar and their allies.
Hebron, also called
Kiriath-Arba, became a city in Judah which was 18 miles south of Jerusalem. Before Abraham lived there, it was in control of
Hittites. Today a mosque stands on the site. When Joshua led the 12 tribes into Canaan, he assigned hebron to Caleb, and it became a levitical city and a city of refuge. King David reigned there for 7 1/2 years before transferring his capital to Jerusalem. In 1929, Arabs massacred many Jews in Hebron, home of 700 Jews, and the survivors were forced out. About 30 families returned in 1931.
He talked with G-d in a vision who told him that his descendants would live in the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River in the East and made a covenanat with him which was shown by circumcision, and tested his loyalty through the sacrifice of Isaac.
When Sarah died, he bought the cave of
Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite as his family burial place. It was near Hebron. Then he married Keturah. Abraham died at the age of 175 and was buried by Sarah. So was sIsaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah interred in this cave. He is considered a prophet by both Jews and Muslims and the founder of monotheism. (Gen.20:7). According to Hellenistic legends, he was also king of Damascus. Arabs say he laid the foundations for the sanctuary at Mecca with the help of his son, Ishmael.
Machpelah was marked by a church during the Byzantine period. After the Arab conquest by a synagogue, but from the 12th century, Arabs prohibited the enty of non-Moslems except under special circumstances. Since the 6 Day War, it has been a popular place for Jews to make pilgrimage. The cave is now blocked but is surrounded by a building, the foundations of which date back to the 2nd Temple times.
Supposedly, according to Islam, which started in c630, Abraham had gone to Saudi Arabia's Mecca and there built the Kabba.
. Arabs knew that in Mohammad's day there were many Jewish tribes living in Medina. They were probably the descendants of Assyria's attack on Israel in 721 BCE when they carried away 10 of the 12 tribes into slavery after destroying the Temple in Jerusalem. Or they could have been tribes from the Babylon conquest when they conquered Jerusalem again in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar and took slaves.
Since Abraham lived almost 3,000 years before Mohammad (570-632) I wonder when he could have traveled there. It was to have happened when he was still in touch with Ishmael, who he had sent away. The distance from Jerusalem to Mecca is 2,119.1 km or 1,216.75 miles. This would be going to Cairo and traveling south all the way along the Red Sea to Mecca. The means of Abraham's transportation would have been by Dromedary camels who could travel 80 to 120 miles per day carrying a rider. He would have wanted 3 of them; for Abraham, Ishmael and food, water and other necessary supplies. This trip would have taken at least, going on the average of 100 miles per day, at least 13 days or
at least 2 weeks. How long would it have taken to create the Kaaba? This trip is not recorded in Jewish literature. "
According to Muslim belief, an angel spoke to the prophet Abraham, and told him to institute the rite of the stone in the hajj at Mecca."
The biblical commentator, Rashi, said that Abraham faced 10 trials in his life.
1. He hid underground for 13 years from King Nimrod, a Cushite, who wanted to kill him.A strong hunter, had a kingdom made of Babylon, Erech, Accad, etc. Assyria was known as the land of Nimrod. An ancient Babylonian king is assumed, not proven. Assyrian war-god Ninurata could be base of story.
2. Nimrod flung Abraham into a burning furnace.
3. Abraham was commanded to leave his family and homeland.
4. Almost as soon as he arrived in Canaan, he was forced to leave to escape a famine.
5. Sarah was kidnapped by Pharaoh's officials for Abimelech, king of Gerar (Philistines), less corrupt than Egypt was, to be part of a harem; corruption in Egypt.
6. The kings captured Lot, and Abraham was forced to go to war to rescue him.
7. G-d told Abraham that his offspring would suffer under 4 monarchies.
8. At an advanced age, he was commanded to circumcise himself and his son.
9. He was commanded to drive away Ishmael and Hagar.
10. The binding of Isaac on the altar, his only child at that time, to sacrifice to G-d.
Chronology shows that Isaac was 37 at the time. This proved to G-d that Abraham and Isaac were determined to serve G-d no matter how difficult te circumstances, which is the very reason for Israel's continued existence. Abraham could not understand this as Isaac did not deserve to die because he had been found unworthy or had become evil. He knew this was not the case. This happened on Mount Moriah which is where the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was built.
G-d called Jerusalem "Yerushalayim.' The original name of the place was Shalem, a name given to the village by Shem, son of Noah---whom the Sages identify with Malchizedek, king of Jerusalem. After the sacrifice of Isaac that was stopped by G-d, Abraham called the village as Yireh (Hashem will see). In deference to both Shem and Abraham, G-d put both names together and called it Yerushalayim.
Resource: The New Standarad Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanach (Old Testament) the Stone Edition, ArtScroll Series.
http://www.allsinai.info/sites/fauna/camel.htm
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/archaeologists-discovery-may-be-abrahams-home-city-of-ur/2013/04/05/
https://www.google.com/search?q=idols+found+in+Ur,+Iraq,+pictures&biw=1024&bih=634&tbm=isch&imgil=TueMyRizFtrNRM%253A%253BdwVeHfOczmcV4M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.sandrashaw.com%25252FAH1L03.htm&source=iu&pf=m&fir=TueMyRizFtrNRM%253A%252CdwVeHfOczmcV4M%252C_&usg=__OX0VqQOOxcm9bAFUyUjFXmMSyUg%3D&ved=0CDkQyjc&ei=MuE2VKSmHomwjALT5IC4BQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=TueMyRizFtrNRM%253A%3BdwVeHfOczmcV4M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sandrashaw.com%252Fimages%252FAH1L03Idol3.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sandrashaw.com%252FAH1L03.htm%3B191%3B440
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Stone
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2013/05/discord-in-abrahams-tent-over-control.html
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2013/03/from-abraham-back-to-noah-and-our.html
